Waterproof fabrics for use in outdoor apparel suitable for wear in most rugged physical environments and weather conditions are well known. These fabrics are usually quite heavy and are typically made from yarns of high strength abrasion-resistant synthetic polymer fibers woven in tight smooth patterns having a high yarn count in both warp and fill directions. Such fabrics when coated with a continuous layer of polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane polymers, or other such compounds can be made into waterproof garments for protection in rainy or inclement weather. An example of such a coated fabric is a plain weave fabric of synthetic polymer yarn with a yarn count of 65.times.60 yarns per inch (210 denier, 24 filament yarn) that has been coated with a layer of polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, or other such polymer. These continuous waterproof coating materials, however, do not permit passage of air or water vapor (from perspiration) through them and, consequently, the garments can become quite stuffy and uncomfortable to the wearer. Furthermore, when scratched by thorns, prickles, branches, and other sharp objects while traversing dense brush and brambles the coating may be punctured or worn off and a measure of the waterproofness lost.
Also known is weather-resistant waterproof and breathable outdoor apparel made from composite laminated fabric which consists of textile fabric laminated to a porous hydrophobic polymer film. The porous hydrophobic polymer film, which may also be formed as a composite in combustion with hydrophilic polymeric materials, resists the passage of liquid water but will readily transmit water vapor through it, i.e., is breathable, thus significantly increasing wearer comfort. Exemplary of materials and garments utilizing this method for weather resistance and waterproofness are those fashioned from GORE-TEX.RTM. membrane and GORE-TEX.RTM. fabric laminates prepared according to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,194,041 (Gore, et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,390 (Gore), and U.S. Pat. No. 3,953,566 (Gore) which include films of porous expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, characterized by having a structure of nodes interconnected by fibrils, laminated to at least one layer of a textile fabric.
Despite the use of heavy densely woven outer fabrics in the apparel described above, when worn where dense brush or thickets of brambles, briers and other thorny bushes are routinely encountered, most are not entirely satisfactory in preventing damage to the garment or in protecting the wearer from injury or discomfort. Harm arising from sharp objects present in brambles, briers, and other dense brush can occur by immediate tearing or puncturing of the garment as the wearer passes through them or, more insidiously over a period of time, from thorns, prickles, and other sharp or needle-like objects that are picked up or become embedded in the outer fabric and, by movement of the yarn and weave of the fabric, are forced through to the wearer's side of the garment. In either case, physical damage to the garment, loss of waterproofness, and discomfort or injury to the wearer can result.